Ancient Cousin Found – Sharing U Haplogroup

Amazing! I just found an ancient cousin who lived 20,000+ years ago in the region near Lake Baikal in Siberia. We share the mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U that came down the maternal line.

Let me explain.

I have been learning about the ancient genome revolution that is providing revisions in human history, archaeology and more. I started with lectures on YouTube by Harvard professor David Reich. His lab researches ancient DNA from old skeletons, finding their full genomes.

Here is a good example of one of his recent lectures – Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past (March 3, 2021):
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoGmPJJS3X8

Then I bought his book “Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past.” I enjoy learning about history, archaeology, genealogy and more, so this was a natural for me. Here is the Wikipedia entry on the book:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_We_Are_and_How_We_Got_Here

In Chapter 4, he discusses uncovering a population he calls Ancient North Eurasians – who remarkably influenced both European and Native American populations. Evidence for the population came from the genome of that young boy who lived long ago near Lake Baikal.

Curious, I looked online for the boy’s mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, mtDNA being passed from mothers to children. A New York Times article reported he had U haplogroup mtDNA — the oldest haplogroup in Europe. Here is the NYT article titled: “24,000-Year-Old Body Shows Kinship to Europeans and American Indians”
> https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/two-surprises-in-dna-of-boy-found-buried-in-siberia.html

An article from PLOS titled “The Peopling of Europe from the Mitochondrial Haplogroup U5 Perspective” provides background on U5a and U5b haplogroups, including their age:
> https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010285

It turns out that I have the U haplogroup as well, actually a subgroup beginning U5b, as I learned through a Genographic Project DNA test I took some years ago. So the boy is a very ancient cousin!!

Interestingly, I had come across Mal’ta Boy and the Mal’ta- Buret’ archaeology site years ago when reading about early Siberian peoples and their dogs. Learn more about this culture, including its famous Venus figurines, here:
> https://www.donsmaps.com/malta.html

So learning came full circle!! Again, amazing!!

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Thank you! And good researching!
-o0o-

Seeking Parmelia Hall Church, Wife of Benjamin F. Church

Research about Parmelia, the wife of Milwaukee pioneer carpenter Benjamin F. Church, has yielded many details about her life, some contradictory. For example, her given name is spelled Parmelia H., Permelia C., Permilia, Pamelia, and even Emilie. She is recorded as Elizabeth Church, married, in Forest Home Cemetery records for the Benjamin F. Church lot, the only time that given name appears for her. Episcopal Church records and her mortuary notice in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel make it clear Elizabeth is Parmelia.

Then, she is Parmelia Hall Church in the baptism records for two sons at St. James Episcopal Church in Milwaukee, but her oldest daughter’s death record lists her as P. Clemens.

Taken together, the details do not help us find her parents, ancestors or specific place of birth. While she likely was born 2 Nov 1815 in New Hampshire, she seems to be missing from databases at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, AmericanAncestors.org and from online books.

Here we provide links to several blog posts we’ve done about her, with what we have discovered. We hope someone might know what New England or New York family she came from to the Wisconsin frontier by about 1838 to marry Benjamin. Their first daughter, Hannah Maria Church, was born 21 Sep 1840 in Milwaukee, her baptism record shows.

A pair of blog posts share what I learned, thanks to a query published in the New England Historical Genealogical Society magazine, American Ancestors, and then follow-up research.

First, Power of Published Genealogy Queries, Part I – blog post describing discovery of Parmelia / Permelia Church in Milwaukee Episcopal Church records, thanks to a query reply from a generous genealogist with knowledge of Milwaukee records.

Second, Parmelia Hall Church: Power of Published Genealogy Queries, Part II – blog post with further discovery about Parmelia Hall Church in Milwaukee Episcopal Church records, and a Benjamin Church Family listing, thanks to St. James Episcopal Church records held at the Milwaukee County Historical Society archives.

About five years ago, I wrote when I knew then about this elusive ancestor as Permilia, wife of Benjamin Church – in a query style posting. At that point, it seemed her maiden name was Clemens or Clement or other variation.

Her husband was the topic of another blog post – Benjamin F. Church, Milwaukee public service – and still another described where Benjamin and Parmelia lived with their 6 children – the Benjamin Church House, today a pioneer museum in Estabrook Park north of Milwaukee.

Perhaps someone will recall a young woman, maiden name Hall or Clemens / Clement, who traveled to the Wisconsin frontier all those years ago. Drop us a note via Twitter if you do. Thank you! And big thanks again to the Milwaukee genealogist and the Milwaukee County Historical Society for your exceptional help!

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Apollonia Becker Bruce, Courageous Immigrant Mother

Amazing! A genealogist born near Trier, Germany,  recently wrote to say he thought we share common ancestors Ignatius Becker and Magdalena Platt who raised seven or eight children near Zemmer, in the Trier-Saarburg district, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Yes, I replied, we do, thanks to two of their daughters — Catherine and Apollonia – who migrated to Wisconsin in the 1850s.

I told him that I remember well the day some years ago when I was looking up on microfilm the baptism of Apollonia Becker — and found it with the names of her parents. It says: Apolonia Becker, Female, Birth Date: 1 May 1838, Baptism: 1 May 1838 at Zemmer, Rheinland, Preußen, Germany, Father: Ignatius Becker, Mother: Magdalena Platt, FHL Film Number: 560484. Her baptism is now online at FamilySearch.

Catherine came in 1851 to marry John Baptiste Miller / Mueller. They lived in and near Mineral Point and Dodgeville in southwest Wisconsin where John was a miner and farmer. They had 12 children. In 1854, Apollonia came alone, age just 16, to join her sister. She was not fond of her step-mother, as recorded in “I Was Born in America,” the autobiography of her eldest son William George Bruce (pages 22-23).

Ignatius or Ignatz Becker and his wife Magdalena (Platt) Becker had daughters Agatha, Barbara, Marie, Catherine, Apollonia, and sons Anton and Jakob, according to a booklet on the history of the Miller Family, also by Wm. G. Bruce. Another daughter, Magdalena, is possible. They lived on the Schoenfelder Hof Estate, Zemmer, near Trier, Germany.

The booklet also states that Ignatius died at age 83 in about 1865, at Zemmer, Germany. That gives him an approximate birth date of 1782. His given name appears as Ignatius, Ignatii and Ignatz, the latter in the Miller booklet. Zemmer is north of Trier in the Moselle River Valley near the border with Luxembourg.

The genealogist who wrote to me has son Jacob Becker as his ancestor while daughter Apollonia is mine. In 1855, she married Augustus Friedrich Bruce who arrived in Milwaukee in 1839 with his parents and two brothers, part of the Old Lutheran migration. The family, surname originally Bruss, came from Cammin, Kreis Cammin, Pomerania. The Bruss men’s traditional occupation was sailor before marriage, then ship’s carpenter when married. Milwaukee is a port city on Lake Michigan.

Apollonia and Augustus had nine children including my great-grandfather Martin Peter Bruce, an accountant, brewery manager, Milwaukee Athletic Club secretary and insurance agent. A long way from ship carpenter like his father and uncles. A group sheet for this Bruce family is online.

Eldest child William George Bruce was an influential publisher and leader in Milwaukee. He lived to 93, and late in life was called “First Citizen of Milwaukee” for all he had done for his city, especially for the harbor and auditorium. His published autobiography mentions his ancestors and Zemmer. I wrote his biographical sketch for Wikipedia.

Also among the nine was daughter Clara Bruce who married Alonzo Fowle, occupation printer. Their son of the same name served in the U.S. Army in World War I. Amazingly, Alonzo Jr. traveled with four other soldiers in the Trier area… and then came to the village of Zemmer [yes!!] and they were quartered with a family named Marxsen.

The village priest Father Johann Eckert discovered that the young Alonzo was the nephew of William George Bruce who had visited Zemmer before the war. According to the latter’s autobiograpy [page 305], the priest said to Alonzo: “You are in the birthplace of one of your ancestors. Mr. Bruce’s mother, namely your grandmother, was born on the Schoenfelder Estate which immediately adjoins the village of Zemmer. And the Marxsen family are distant relatives of yours.” The Marxsen family then treated Alonzo and the other American soldiers to a feast, the book states. Interestingly, the genealogist who contacted me has ancestors named Marxen from Zemmer.

The book says the priest also told Alonzo about Apollonia: “I have heard older people, who knew her, tell me that she was a black-haired, black-eyes lass, who possessed both spirit and intelligence… a beautiful girl. She travelled alone all the way from Zemmer to Milwaukee.”

Apollonia was the inspiration for Immigrant Mother, a large bronze sculpture in Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee, donated by William George Bruce to honor his mother and all immigrant mothers. The inscription on the base reads as follows: DEDICATED TO THE/ VALIANT IMMIGRANT MOTHERS/ BY WILLIAM GEORGE BRUCE/ IVAN Meštrović SCULPTOR

Apollonia was a courageous, intelligent woman who raised her children to be good, hard working and successful people. I was happy to tell her distant relative in Germany about her story.

Apollonia Becker Bruce, inspiration for Immigrant Mother sculpture in Milwaukee. Photo by BBP

Can You Choose Your Favorite Ancestor?

I enjoy the e-newsletter The Weekly Genealogist from the New England Historical Genealogical Society. It has genealogy research tips and sources, NEHGS updates, links to family history in the news — and the weekly survey. The latter is fun feature that helps stimulate readers’ own research and occasional blogging. If you wish, you can send in a short answer and some are used in the following week’s newsletter.

This week’s question provides great inspiration for blogging: Who is your favorite ancestor? This is a tough question as we likely have many “favorite” ancestors for different reasons. But it makes us mull over what we’ve learned doing family history and how our ancestors may have influenced us in unique ways. My short list includes:

• Elizabeth Bradley, courageous widow of Danyell Broadley of Bingley, Yorkshire, England, who sailed across the Atlantic about 1648 to the New Haven Colony with her daughter and four sons, ages 16 to 6. Her step-son William Bradley is said to have urged her to come. The English Civil War was raging between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists so it was thought to be a good time to leave. She settled in Guilford, Connecticut, and married twice more. Elizabeth’s youngest son Stephen Bradley is my ancestor.
• Aaron Bradley who enlisted twice in the American Revolution in Litchfield, Connecticut, and is my DAR Patriot Ancestor. Aaron went on to run a blacksmith shop, tavern, inn and store in the Bantam area of the Town of Litchfield, Litchfield County, during the Era of Stagecoaches. For several decades the area was called Bradleyville. He served as a Selectman for 9 years, represented Litchfield in the Connecticut Assemby 6 times, and had one or both of his daughters educated at Sarah Pierce’s Female Academy. His oldest son Horace Bradley is my ancestor.
• William Henry Luehr, born in New Holstein, Wisconsin, to parents who immigrated from Holstein, Germany, in 1858. He was the first ancestor in our family to complete college, namely the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He graduated on 19 Jun 1889 with a bachelor of letters degree, English Course, a college major we share. He worked briefly in newspapering, as I did, and then was a respected educator. I have a hunch I inherited my love of writing from him as well as from my father. And William Henry took great care to preserve his parents’ legacy, preparing a booklet with their story and photos and a fine memorial at the New Holstein City Cemetery. Perhaps my love of genealogy comes in part from him as well. His daughter Lucille Marguerite Luehr Conger is my ancestor.

Now, who is your favorite ancestor? And why?

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Thank you! And good researching!

 

Power of Published Genealogy Queries

Genealogy researchers today are so blessed with a wealth of family data online that it is easy to forget the old-fashioned tool — queries published in genealogy magazines in print format. But I’ve just had evidence of the power of published queries.

As a member of the New England Historical Genealogical Society, I enjoy both the American Ancestors magazine and The Weekly Genealogist e-newsletter. I was fortunate recently to have a query published in American Ancestors, Volume 17, Number 3, Fall 2016, column titled Brick Walls, page 21.

It begins: “My persistent brick wall is my ancestor Permelia Church. Permelia married Benjamin F. Church, a carpenter, who came from Ulster County, New York, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1835.” I’ve written about my search for the ancestry of Permelia, who, sources say was, born about 1815 in New Hampshire (1850 Census) and whose maiden name might have been Clemens (oldest daughter’s death record).

Remarkably, a long-time genealogy researcher from Milwaukee read the query and decided to look in records he had from his own family searches. What what he found and sent me was a treasure, if not a brick-wall break through. He found Permelia was admitted on 11 Sep 1842 to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Milwaukee (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church records for communicants). The first Episcopal Church in Milwaukee, St. Paul’s was founded May 23, 1838. The congregation met in judicial chambers until January 1845 when the first church was opened.

Even more precious, he sent the page with the dates of birth and shared date of baptism for Benjamin and Permelia’s first two children:
> Hannah Maria Church born 21 September 1840 in Milwaukee
> Ann Augusta Church born 3 July1843 in Milwaukee
Sponsors for both girls were Royal P. Locke and Mary Jane Butler, likely the wife of T. D. Butler.

Hannah and Ann were baptized on 3 May 1846 in Trinity Chapel, an outreach from St. Paul’s on the east side of the Milwaukee River to serve those on the west side. Officiating was the now famous Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, missionary bishop to the Northwest Territory. He became provisional bishop of the new Diocese of Wisconsin, then its diocesan bishop until 1870. For context, Wisconsin gained statehood in 1848.

The St. Paul records also show that Permelia Church – with many others – was removed on 7 Jan’y 1847 from St. Paul’s and transferred to the new Trinity Church on the west side of the river. Trinity did not survive and by 1850 St. James Episcopal Church had been founded – also as an outreach of St. Paul’s – to serve the west side.

So a next step in research is to see if Permelia was transferred to St. James Episcopal Church, if her other children were baptized there, and if there is a record of her funeral.And then there is the possibility that the baptismal sponsors might be researched for clues. The ability to take more steps is due to NEHGS publishing my quest and the kind genealogist sending me the St. Paul’s records. To both I say thank you!

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Seeking Caleb Church researchers

I am hoping to be in contact with anyone with ancestral ties to the CHURCH families who were in Dutchess and Ulster counties in New York in the 1750-1855 period. In particular, I would like to connect with Daniel Palcic and an unnamed genealogy researcher, perhaps Henry, who replied to him online back in 1998. I believe we are cousins.

Here is the key information.

Back on August 3, 1998, an unnamed Genealogy.com user replied to another CHURCH family researcher, Daniel Palcic, who had posted a query on June 14, 1998. The headline on this 1998 thread is “Re: CHURCH, Phoebe/Phebe; b.1755; Mayflower?”

The August reply begins as follows: “We are at the same stumbling block.We are descendants of Caleb Church b. 12-19-1772, who we believe is Phoebe Church Wilbor’s half brother. I have correspondance dating back to 1913 where people were trying to make the same connection we are.”

Here is a link to the original posting: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/church/55/
Here is a link to the reply: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/church/99/
And a link to other Church family postings by the unnamed genealogist: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/users/417274004/

I too am a descendant of Caleb Church and his wife Hannah Baker through their son Benjamin Church who migrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1835 from Ulster County. He was a pioneer carpenter and builder in the young Midwest city. Use the links to see what I’ve written about them:
Caleb Church: https://relativemusings.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/caleb-church-farmer-and-cooper/
Benjamin Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Church_(carpenter)

I currently am focusing on the CHURCH families of Dutchess County and Ulster County, New York, and would very much like to be in touch with Daniel and the unnamed person, perhaps named Henry, who posted about this part of the family. Or any others researching this family. What is very interesting to me is that Daniel’s research led him to think that the father of Phoebe, Caleb — and a brother Samuel I recently found via a will — was a either John Church or his brother Constant Church. They were the sons of Edward Church and his first wife, Grace Shaw, who had eleven children in Little Compton, Rhode Island.

Daniel proposes a possible Mayflower connection as follows: Richard Warren of the Mayflower1; Elizabeth Warren2 (Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Warren, who married Richard Church); Joseph Church3; John Church4; Edward Church5. This Edward Church5 had as his first wife, Grace Shaw.

There is a John Church with a household of 8 in the 1790 Census in Dutchess County. There are mentions of a John Church of Dutchess County in The Settlers of Beekman Patent, Vol. 3, by Frank J. Doherty, that seem to be the same man. Of the two brothers Daniel pointed to, this John Church is the focus of my current work in conjunction with a professional genealogist.

Laying out a timeline for this John Church, it seems likely that he would have been born between 1730 and 1735. Many settlers came to Dutchess County from Little Compton, Rhode Island, in the mid-1700s, including nine Wilbor siblings, two with marriage links to Church individuals in Dutchess County. The John Church of the right age in Little Compton would have been John Church, born 31 Jan 1732 in Little Compton, Rhode Island, Father: Edward Church, Mother: Grace Church, Page: 103 – Little Compton Vital Records. Just the person Daniel wrote about back in 1998.

Here are online resources about Edward Church and Grace Shaw:
> Family Group Sheet
> Another Family Group Sheet
> And information at WikiTree

Caleb Church and Phoebe Church, with spouses and children, are in the 1913 book Descendants of Richard Church of Plymouth, Mass., but in an “Unplaced Members of Plymouth Family” section because the precise lineage was unknown. See pages 321-323. Still descendants back then were sure there was a Mayflower connection and wanted to be in the book. We descendants have been searching for the connection ever since.

Hope to hear from you!

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Thank you! And good researching!

 

Genealogy & The Wayback Machine

Oh no! On June 1, 2016, a valuable article on the Hachez family of Bremen – some of them my ancestors – disappeared from the World Wide Web! I here remind all of us genealogists that the Web is not permanent. Even an important article on an influential family, online for many years, can suddenly vanish.

This article was about Die Familie Hachez or The Hachez Family. In the original German, the article is called Schiffe und Schokolade – zweimal Joseph Hachez – Von Hermann Sandkühler. In English it is “Ships and chocolate twice Joseph Hachez” by Hermann Sandkühler. The family founded the Hachez chocolate company that still exists in Bremen today, but was also in shipping.

Don’t trust that a valuable family resource will always be there online When you find an especially useful web page, take these steps:

> Print the article for the relevant family folder or binder.
> Copy the text into a document to file on your computer and thumb drive, and be sure to include the URL.
> Take screen shots of each section of the page, so you have the layout, charts, photos, etc.
> Make a link to the web page in family members’ profiles on services such as Ancestry.com in order to to save the URL

You might also want to share the article with other family members who have genealogy files.

If, after the disappearance, you want to see that web page again? Then go to archive.org and use their wonderful Wayback Machine. Put the page’s URL that you carefully saved into the search box, hit enter and up will come a chart of years showing when the page was archived in the past. Click a year, then the specific date in the calendar below and up will come the rescued web page. Graphics may be missing.

While I had a paper copy, I wanted a text copy as well. Fortunately I had the URL in an ancestor’s profile on Ancestry.com, so I could retrieve it, and also get a new URL that could go into a Google Translate box, giving me a fair English version. Whew!

Here is the URL for the archived page, in the original German: https://web.archive.org/web/20160309080246/http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~bremhist/FamHachez.html

Thank you, Wayback Machine!

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Are Adam and Maria Baker Hannah’s Parents?

Benjamin F. Church, Milwaukee pioneer builder and my third-great-grandfather, was the son of Caleb Church and Hannah Baker of Ulster County, New York, according to several sources. These include his brother Samuel’s biographical sketch in Commemorative biographical record of Ulster County, New York, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 2, and the genealogy book Descendants of Richard Church of Plymouth, Mass.

You can a read a brief sketch of Caleb and Hannah on page 322 and a list of their children on page 323 of the Richard Church book. Samuel Church’s biographical sketch is also online. A recent viewing of Caleb’s will via Ancestry.com confirms the names of his and Hannah’s children.

But there the Church and Baker families seem to stop. Some of Caleb’s descendants believed he is descended from Richard Church who married Elizabeth Warren, daughter of Richard Warren, a Mayflower passenger. But that is unconfirmed, so the family is in the “Unplaced Members of the Plymouth Family” in the Richard Church book, as explained on page 321.

I have just hired a professional genealogist based in New England, who frequently visits Ulster County, to help discover more about Caleb Church who, son Samuel said, was born in Dutchess County. Ulster County is west across the Hudson River from Dutchess County, in the southeast corner of New York. The researcher will start with finding the full probate records for Caleb Church and for a Samuel Church who named Caleb his brother and co-executor of his will.

While that is underway, I decided to research further the parents of Caleb’s wife Hannah Baker, who was a wife, mother to 10 children and a Quaker minister. A descendant of Phoebe Church, sister or half-sister to Caleb, recalled Hannah Baker’s parents as Adam and Maria Baker of Ulster County. Could I make the connection?

Adam Baker in Histories and Census Records

Among those listed in the Town of Marlborough, Ulster County, in 1779 was Adam Baker. In 1788, Adam Baker was in the group responsible for road work from the Plattekill Road as far as the bridge west of Absalom Cases’s. These mentions are in History of Ulster County, New York: With Illustrations and Biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, page 78.

The 1790 Census has an Adam Baker in New Marlborough, Ulster County, New York, with a household of 2 males over 16, one being Adam; 1 male under 16, and 9 females. This family could easily include wife Maria and a daughter Hannah.

1875 Map of Ulster County, NY from Wikipedia

In 1800, the Town of Plattekill was created out of the Town of Marlborough, which are both in the southeast corner of Ulster County. The 1800 Census has Adam Baker, now of Plattekill, with a household of 3 males and 3 females; the oldest male and female in the 45 years and older range, matching ages for Adam and Maria. Some of the daughters would have married and been out of the household.

Early censuses do not have the names of household members, just ticks showing gender and age range. So here was a likely Adam Baker, but no way to find a daughter Hannah. So I turned to Ancestry.com again to see what else I could find about an Adam Baker of Ulster County with a wife Maria. Voila!

Baptisms of 6 Daughters, including Annatje

Up came baptisms of several daughters of Adam and Maria Baker at the New Hurley Dutch Reformed Church in Ulster County in the database U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989. The New Hurley Reformed Church, founded in 1770, is located north of the hamlet of Wallkill, midway between it and Gardiner to the north, in the Town of Plattekill. The right place for our Adam Church. There were twins Rachel and Sarah Baker or Bakker in 1778, Jannetje Backer in 1780, Antje Bakker in 1783 and in Arriantje Bakker 1786. But no Hannah, who sources say was born 4 March 1773 or 4 March 1775, but I believe more likely 4 March 1774.

Recognizing that Adam’s surname was recorded as Baker, Bakker and Backer, I did a slightly wider search to see if there were more daughters baptized. Sure enough, there was Annatje Backer , baptized 8 May 1774 at New Hurley, Ulster, New York, parents Adam Backer and Maria Trysyn. (Maria’s maiden name also was recorded with varied spellings).

Research shows the Dutch or Low German name Annatje is a diminutive of Anna, and Anna and Hannah are variants, so Annatje is equivalent to Hannah in English.There she was, I believe — Hannah Baker, likely born 4 March 1774, then baptized about 2 months later, a pattern seen with her five known sisters. They were baptized one to two months after birth.

So on this Father’s Day 2016, we’ve confirmed the father [and mother] of Hannah Baker, one of my most fascinating female ancestors. Happy Father’s Day indeed!

NOTE: Since writing this post, we have learned that Hannah’s sister Rachel married Charles Mackey while sister Antje, who went by Ann or Anna, married Elias Mackey, the two men apparently cousins. After the couples sold land in Plattekill, Ulster County, in the 1805-1806 period, they moved west to Otsego County, New York. I am grateful to Patricia A. Metsch who shared with me her research of the Mackey families of Ulster County and the marriage of the two Baker sisters.

NOTE: It is true that Adam and Maria Baker named two daughters with similar names — Annatje,who went by Hannah, and Antje who went by Ann or Anna. While families in that era often reused a given name when a child died, I believe that in this case Annatje and Antje both survived and married. The names are distinctive enough, and each woman used a different Anglicized version of their Dutch name as adults. A similar naming occurred when Hannah’s son Benjamin and his wife Permelia named their first two daughters Hannah Maria and Ann Augusta. The first daughter went by Hannah or Maria, the second by Anna, Annie and Nannie. Hannah Maria was born 21 Sept 1840 while Ann Augusta was born 6 July 1843. They were both baptized at Trinity Chapel, an outreach of Milwaukee’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on 3 May 1846.

NOTE: Antje “Anna” Baker and her husband Elias Mackey named their first daughter Hannah Maria Mackey, another naming parallel and remembrance of family members.

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Ancestry of Margaret Legard Gunyon Church: Part Four

The final phase of Robert and Fanny Gunyon’s story — in which Margaret also played a role — was the most dramatic and most complex.

Deaths and Wills of Robert and Fanny Gunyon
Forest Home Cemetery gravestones show that Robert and Fanny Gunyon both died in 1892. Reports in newspapers and legal journals about the complex legal cases involving their wills provide insights on Robert’s and Fanny’s deaths, and Margaret’s ancestry.

“Robert Gunyon, the testator, made a will February 10, 1892, and died within a few days thereafter, and… his will was duly probated April 12, 1892, in the county court of Milwaukee county. He left surviving him a widow and no children,” according to American and English Corporation Cases: A Collection of All Corporation Cases… Decided in the Courts of Last Resort in the United States, England, and Canada [1883-1894]. The volume also states that, after certain specific bequests, his property was to be “given and bequeathed to 15 relatives, whose names are given, share and share alike.”

The entry concerns a lawsuit by the Milwaukee Protestant Home for the Aged, seeking to have the executors turn over certain real estate willed to the home. The “residuary legatees answered, alleging that the devise to the appellant was void because made less than three months prior to the testator’s death.”

In Wisconsin Reports: Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Volume 85, we learn that Robert Gunyon died four days after making his will, thus February 14, 1892. He did not make specific provision for wife Fanny in his first will, because both of them were “ill unto death” and he assumed she would not survive him. He also made a nuncupative will upon learning that Fanny was getting her health back.

Fanny indeed rallied and appeared on the way to recovery, according to newspaper articles on the legal tangle over the wills. Thus she used the option provided by law to obtain her portion of his estate, on 25 Feb 1892. She made her will, but then died on 3 March 1892.
Margaret’s husband John Church was one of the executors of Robert Gunyon’s estate. But it was Margaret Church who had to go to court to fight having Fanny Gunyon’s will admitted into probate, in order to ensure that it was the instructions in Robert Gunyon’s will that determined the distribution of his estate.

Complicated Case in Probate Court
In March 1892, articles appeared in numerous Midwest newspapers about the Gunyon wills.
The Chicago Tribune carried an article headlined “Bad Tangle Over the Gunyon Wills” on March 13, 1892, page 11. It stated: “The litigation over the probating of the two wills made respectively by the late Robert Gunyon and his wife Fanny, whereby it is sought to dispose of an estate of $100,000 to separate sets of beneficiaries, promises to be one of the most complicated cases in the annals of the Probate Court in this county.” It added that the notice to contest the wife’s will is signed by Mrs. Margaret Church “who sets forth that she is his [Robert Gunyon’s] niece and heir-at-law.”

On the same day, The Inter Ocean newspaper from Chicago, Illinois, carried an article on the contested wills on page 3. It noted a “protest against the admission of the will of Fannie Gunyon to probate was filed in the Probate Court this afternoon by Mrs. Margaret Church. Mrs. Church says she is one of the children of Ann Craven Legard, deceased, who was a sister of Fanny Gunyon, wife of Robert Gunyon, and that she (Margaret Church) was the legally adopted child of Robert and Fanny Gunyon, both deceased.” The estate is valued at $65,000.

On March 12, 1892, the Milwaukee Journal published the same news under the following headline and subheads: “Fighting for Big Estate / Objections Made to the Probate of Mrs. Gunyon’s Will / Two Wills and Both Contested.” Margaret’s explanation that she is the daughter of Ann (Craven) Legard, sister of Fanny (Craven) Gunyon and the adopted daughter of Robert and Fanny is again explained. A summary of the “peculiarly interesting” details of the matter of how their wills were written was described.

The Legal Contest Concluded and Aftermath
The final outcomes of all aspects of these legal contests is beyond the scope of this genealogy article. We can report that the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its January 1894 term did rule that Robert’s bequest or devise to the Milwaukee Protestant Home for the Aged was void because it was made less than three months prior to his death.

More important for our story, the various legal and newspaper articles cited make clear the ancestry of Margaret Legard Gunyon Church. Our research is confirmed.

Following these court cases, Maggie and John had their sixth child, son Edgar Benjamin Church, on 18 March 1894. They lost their daughter Harriet Margaret Church on 29 May 1896. Maggie died in July 1909. Husband John Benjamin Church died on 25 June 1911. Maggie and John are buried at Forest Home Cemetery near Robert and Fanny Gunyon.

Author’s Note on Benjamin Church, Milwaukee Pioneer
Benjamin Church, a native of Ulster County, New York, arrived in Milwaukee in 1835. He was a well known pioneer carpenter and builder in the young city. He is the author’s 3rd-great-grandfather through his daughter Ann Maria [Hannah M.] who married Sherman Abernethy Bradley, a native of Connecticut. John Benjamin Church, husband of Margaret Legard Gunyon, was Ann Maria’s youngest brother.

SOURCES:
Queries from from Stephanie Legard asking about the link between the Legard family of Barnsley and Wakefield, Yorkshire, England and the Church family of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Her Legard genealogy traces to Margaret Legard Gunyon Church’s brother William W. Legard (wife Amelia); their son Frank (wife Elizabeth); and their son Leonard who married Ellen Wyman, Stephanie’s grandmother.
> http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CHURCH/2003-09/1063718531
> http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CHURCH/2007-08/1186030828
> http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.church/70.1/mb.ashx

Correspondence with Allan Green, genealogist, who lived in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England at the time the research for this article was done in February 2015.

Various UK and US census records, ship’s passenger logs, city directories and Milwaukee history books found on Ancestry.com.

“Judge Derek Mosley’s 160-Year-Old Home: The municipal judge’s home is unique — just one of just 38 in town built before the Civil War,” by Michael Horne.
> http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/08/18/house-confidential-judge-derek-mosleys-160-year-old-home/

“Lisbon Plank Road History”
> http://www.slahs.org/history/local/transportation/lisbon_plank_road.htm
“Barnsley” – West Riding, Yorkshire, England
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnsley
“Wakefield” – West Riding, Yorkshire, England
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield
“Kirkcudbright, Scotland”
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkcudbright

“Fighting for A Big Estate / Objections Made to the Probate of Mrs. Gunyon’s Will / Two Wills and Both Contested,” Milwaukee Journal, March 12, 1892.
“Bad Tangle Over the Gunyon Wills,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1892, page 11, article with dateline Milwaukee, Wis. March 12
MILWAUKEE MATTERS. “Wills contested” article… in The Inter Ocean from Chicago, Illinois, Page 3, Sunday, March 13, 1892, dateline Milwaukee, Wis., March 12

And legal journals covering the lawsuits surrounding the wills of Robert and Fanny Gunyon including Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin, Volume 87, Callaghan, 1894.

Fourth and final part of an article completed in February 2015.
See Part One and Part Two and Part Three

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Ancestry of Margaret Legard Gunyon Church: Part Three

Robert Gunyon and Fanny (Craven) Gunyon in Wauwatosa
In the 1853-1855 period, a handsome Italianate stone and cream brick residence with some Greek Revival touches was built for Robert and Fanny Gunyon on a 160+ acre farm in the Town of Wauwatosa, west of the city of Milwaukee. Its location today is in the Arlington Gardens neighborhood, surrounded by other homes, at 7927 West Appleton Avenue, Milwaukee. The 1860 Census enumerated Robert, 43, and Fannie, 39, living in the Town of Wauwatosa where Robert was farming. His real estate was worth $9,500. Living with them was Elizabeth Whitehead, 31, born in Scotland, no occupation listed.

More about the Gunyons and their house appeared in an article, “Judge Derek Mosley’s 160-Year-Old Home: The municipal judge’s home is unique — just one of just 38 in town built before the Civil War,” published online as a House Confidential at UrbanMilwaukee.com. For example, Robert was described as owner of “a lumber mill and was cranking out 10,000 boards a day in 1850 for the construction of the Lisbon Plank Road.” In fact, Robert was one of five men who opened the sale of stock for Lisbon Plank Road construction, on 20 Dec 1849 at Chestnut Street House. There was a short-lived plank road craze, soon snuffed out by the arrival of the railroads for moving people and goods.

The Varied Careers of Robert Gunyon
Robert Gunyon is also recorded as a grocer with a store at 45 Chestnut Street, according to Milwaukee History, Vols 9-11, by Milwaukee County Historical Society. There is no date for his store in the book, but a 1865 Milwaukee Directory shows him at that address. So Robert had an enterprise in the general area of Benjamin Church home, west of Milwaukee River. Remember that it was Benjamin’s son John Benjamin Church who married Margaret Legard Gunyon on 10 Sep 1879 in Milwaukee.

As noted earlier, Robert and Fanny went back to Yorkshire some time in 1865, returning in August with Fanny’s niece Margaret Ledgar, later Legard, whom they adopted. The 1870 Census enumerated them together in Milwaukee, with Robert’s occupation lumber merchant. City directories show that his lumber yard was “on the point” at the foot of Cherry Street. One imagines that Robert met Benjamin Church, a pioneer carpenter, builder and father of John Benjamin Church, at this time if not earlier. The Benjamin Church house was on 4th between Cherry and Galena streets.

Robert had one more change in his active career. Between 1874-1878, he was listed in city directories with the business Gunyon, Cryderman & Pollow, tanners, 492 Canal. His partners were Jacob Cryderman, residence 753 7th Street, and John A. Pollow, residence 609 4th Street. Leather tanning was a big business in Milwaukee. How intriguing that Robert got into the leather industry, his father-in-law being a leather currier in Yorkshire.

After that, Robert apparently retired from active business. Milwaukee city directories show Robert and Fanny Gunyon residing at 710 Walnut Street, at least from 1874 until their deaths. Walnut is six blocks north of Cherry Street. John and Maggie Church lived at 714 Galena in 1891, three blocks south of the Gunyons.

Robert Gunyon in Politics
As we’ve seen, several Milwaukee history books mention Robert Gunyon. In another one, he is listed as Rob. Gunyon with men in new political party that had the motto “free soil, free speech, free labor, free men.” This was the Free Soil Party, active from 1848 to 1852, that opposed the expansion of slavery into the country’s western territories. This mention is in the 1871 book Milwaukee written in German by Rudolph A. Koss. The book also mentions the shop of Rob. Gunyon in Chestnutstraße or Chestnut Street.

The final phase of Robert and Fanny’s story — in which Margaret also played a role — was perhaps the most dramatic. We’ll tell it in the fourth and last installment of this family history mystery resolved, coming soon.

Third part of an article completed in February 2015… to be continued. See Part One and Part Two

Please follow my genealogy postings on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBPetura

Why not check out my helpful Brick Wall Genealogy Resources webpage:
http://www.workingdogweb.com/Brick-Wall-Genealogy.htm

Please join my group Finding Family for Free at GenealogyWise:
http://www.genealogywise.com/group/findingfamilyforfree

Thank you! And good researching!